Thursday, November 8, 2007

Yep, I’m a lucky blogger. You guys have spoiled me so much!I have received many gifts from different parts of the world and that is so amazing.The beautiful place mat you see on the photo is a present from a very dear Brazilian friend, Luna – thank you for making my table more beautiful, sweetie!

Some things are as versatile as Mark – and I have found out that pesto is one of them. I have seen it as pasta sauce, canapé topping, and even spread on pizza.

It took me forever to try pesto – Karin told me I was gonna love it – and my decision was to try it in Rome. I did – it was OK, but when I looked at my plate I was kind of disappointed. I wanted my sauce green, not sort of green.

Determined to change that weird first impression, I made my own pesto. And all I can say is that after the pasta was gone I rushed to grab a piece of bread – there was not a single drop of sauce left on my plate.

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until al dente.In the meantime, prepare the sauce: place the ingredients in a bowl of a food processor** and process until smooth and creamy. Set aside.When pasta is ready, drain and reserve ¼ cup (60ml) cooking water; add the reserved water to the sauce and mix well.Transfer pasta to a large bowl, add the sauce and mix.Serve immediately.

* use pine nuts for a more traditional take on pesto** I used a blender and it worked wonderfully.

I love Brazilian food Patricia. During the time I spent there, I tried so many things and took so many pictures that I was worried Marcelo got so tired of me taking pictures before starting to eat. I hope I'll be able to write the book I'm planning so that I can use some of the photos I took.

Hi Patricia, I love ur blog! I really appreciate it that u have metric conversions on all ur recipes. I've never tried pesto, but have always planned to..Basil is difficult to find and expensive here in Singapore. Won't let that deter me though! Thanks for dropping by my blog, keep in touch!

Welcome to the wonderful world of pesto -- there are so many things you can do with it. And you've probably figured out by now that it is exposure to air that takes away the gorgeous green color, so keep it covered with olive oil in the fridge, to keep the basil from oxidizing, and your pesto will stay bright green.

Homemade pesto rocks! It's great because you can control how much of each element (the nuts, the leaves, the cheese, the oil, the garlic) goes in. I'm glad you got to make it...it certainly looks delicious :) Try experimenting with different nuts and leave...you will love the differently flavors!

cant believe its ur first time with pesto.... i simply adore it... tired it with all diff kinds of nuts.... and cant spot until i've seen the end of it too :) I know for sure u'll be making it a lot now :P

Karin, they can be as fussy as they want, but the pizza we eat here in Sao Paulo is better than the pizza I had in Rome. I also had better pizza in Paris than in Rome.And you are responsible for me trying pesto, my dear friend! :)

Julie, you've said it all.

Deb, I can't wait to start spreading it around! :)

Lynn, I can imagine the flavor and the aroma... Delicious!

Tijen, you can't imagine how great it is to hear something like that. It makes me glad and proud! I'd also love to hear more about your adventures here. I'm going to a wonderful restaurant next week (my birthday) and I'm so excited because I'm a huge fan of the chef!

Andreea, thank you!

Pam, so many different ways to use it, all of them delicious, I'm sure!

Anh, tks, dear!

Susan, I don't think I will get tired of it, either. :)

Farhan, tks for stopping by, too! I appreciate it! I will definitely keep in touch!I can send you some basil seeds, if you want, so you can try to grow your own basil - how's that?

Cynthia, so true! People are just amazing and warm, I feel so blessed!

I've got a ton of homemade pesto that I keep in tiny containers in my freezer so I can pull out specifically what I need. I love having it on hand!You should try it on top of an excellent steak some night--it is an amazing combination.

Oh, that pasta looks so delicious—just perfect! The photos make me want to dig right in. Thank you for sharing that; I'm inspired. I just bought a pasta-making machine (the hand-crank kind), and I can't wait to try it out—maybe with pesto sauce!